Mathew Asphar
Congratulations to the King of Dribble – He won by the skin of his teeth.
Let’s rewind.
Malcolm Turnbull became 29th Prime Minister of Australia in 2015, due to the lack of communication skills of his predecessor, Tony Abbott.
Initially, this move was met with great popularity, particularly from the media left. There was no calling him a backstabber aka Gillard and Rudd. He had done a great deed for the nation. In fact, had Turnbull called an election shortly after his leadership coup, he would have won very convincingly – Howard 1996/Abbott 2013 convincingly.
But, he had bigger plans. He had the confidence to wait and call for a Double Dissolution Election, which with his popularity, would get rid of all the Senate issues the Coalition faced under Abbott, which virtually killed all of Abbott’s and Hockey’s budget plans.
Something happened though between the end of 2015 to July 2016. Australians saw Prime Minister Turnbull more consistently and in larger doses. As a Minister (and a very incompetent one at that), seeing short stints of Turnbull allowed him to present himself as well educated and well spoken (both which couldn’t be further from the truth).
As Prime Minister, which brought with it more exposure, he did not present himself quite as well. He lacked conviction, he tried to outsmart the populous with big words, and he only seemed comfortable saying ‘Jobs’, ‘Growth’ and ‘Innovation.’ Australians (mostly the Liberal/National’s Conservative voting base) quickly grew tired of his rhetoric.
More concerning, it became (a lot) more clear that Turnbull is clearly in the wrong Political party, and this is starting to hurt him. If he was in the Labor Party, he would be a lot more comfortable and effective (maybe). He certainly would speak with more conviction because Labor’s social agenda and views align with his own.
But, as leader of Australia’s most popular conservative party, he is neither comfortable nor effective. A lot of his personal political agendas simply don’t align with what the Liberal Party and (more importantly) what their voters want.
This resulted in the July 2nd, 2016 election having an incredibly high number of votes for the Minor and Micro parties. Most of these were conservative protest votes that would have gone to an Abbott-led Government.
Despite this fact, he has seen the Coalition to an election ‘victory’, just managing to get the minimum 76 seats required in the House of Representatives to form Government (Abbott won 90 in 2013).
Instead, the newly elected Parliament will be feral. If Abbott and Hockey couldn’t pass Budget cuts or changes in the last Parliament, good luck to Turnbull and Morrison passing any form of Budget reform that this country desperately needs.
But maybe this was Turnbull’s plan all along. Budget spending cuts don’t seem to be part of his plans. He’s a progressive, left-wing big spender. Maybe a Feral Parliament is what he wanted…?
That poses several questions for true conservative political followers to ponder.
Was it the genius of Turnbull to appeal to the left to just get him over the line at the election?
Was it the genius of Turnbull to win the election that his predecessor ‘apparently’ would have lost?
Or in contrast…
Is Turnbull the dangerous imposter who infuriated conservatives to the point of protest voting by consistently confusing his left from his right?
Where will the Liberal party be in 3 years’ time? If he is the dangerous impostor he appears to be in the eyes of most genuine conservatives, will he and the party be facing political annihilation, even against Bill Shorten??
In time we will truly know the answers to these questions. But for now, Australia, more than ever, needs a true leader to be our Prime Minister.
Sadly, Malcolm Turnbull is severely lacking when it comes to leadership, despite what he says.
It’s time to get real, seriously.
Photo by Australian Embassy Jakarta 